Amy J. Bennett

Extraordinary Faith for Everyday Life

Hardwoods – the mess has begun

by Leave a Comment

OK, so I’ve been following Ree’s Lodge posts and I’m beginning to understand her panic.  When I came home yesterday, I found my baseboards missing.  It looks a little like this:

IMG_3506 

and this

IMG_3505

and this

IMG_3508

…all in the hall, foyer, living room ,dining room, kitchen, hall closets and sun room. Yikes. 

I know I said there was going to be a lot of work coming our way but I’m just not sure I was ready for the mess.  But I’m trying to concentrate on the fact that that carpet and laminate flooring will soon be beautiful Walnut colored hardwoods.

The purse

by Leave a Comment

imageI do love me some clothes and shoes but a purse person I am not.

I find a very boring, brown or tan purse and use it for months on end.  Well, my mom ran into this purse at a local gift shop and decided to pick it up for me (thanks, Mom!).  Honestly, I would never have picked it out but I think it’s super cute.  And apparently so do a lot of people (but not everyone, I realize).  I have never, ever gotten so much attention from any piece of clothing, pair of shoes or purse than I have this one.

At Harris Teeter, I was coming around my van to get Lexi out and the second my purse made it around the corner with me, the lady next to my car was like "I love your purse!"

The ladies in my church choir saw it sitting by itself in the robe room and were talking amongst themselves about whose purse it was.

Two ladies at the ATM yesterday were having a fit over it.  I think I may have heard a comment similar to that stopped me mid-sentence.

And then the kicker, a (straight as far as I could tell) man behind me in line at lunch saw it and said, "Wow, look at that purse.  That’s so cute!"

So I’m figuring no one has ever seen a purse quite like this.  So here you go, purse people, ooo and ah over it if you like.

I certainly wish I knew where to point you online to get it but if you are really interested, email me and I can give you the local store info I got it at and maybe they can ship one to you or point you to where to get it.  I think it was pretty inexpensive as far as purses go…like $30 or something and they come in lots of colors, green, red, purple, brown and pink as far as I know.

And now I can not believe I just wrote this much about a purse.  That is all, you may go.

The Apple Store

by Leave a Comment

I had my first visit to the Apple Store today. I always go past it peering in wondering what all those cool people were doing in there. Well, today I had to get a cover for my iPhone as I had not purchased one at the AT&T store. I went to Wal-Mart and they had iPod Touch stuff but not iPhone stuff. So with the kids over at SIL’s, I jumped at the chance for Scott and I to run up there (it’s not very close) to get one when I didn’t have to fight work traffic this week. Well, I walked in the store and it was packed. People were on laptops, others were looking at accessories, some were just talking to the employees.  But there were a TON of people in there.  I even asked the greeter if they had something special going on.  Nope, she said, it was Sunday and they were always that busy.

So a guy helped me on my cover and then I went to check out.  I looked for a register but didn’t see one.  I asked one of the 80 employees working and she said right here and held up a handheld scanner thingy.  Yep, she checked me out in the middle of the store and then went to the back to get a bag and the receipt.  Wow, that was cool.

I was in awe at just how cool it all seemed and at the moment, was a proud owner of an iPhone (and iPod but that doesn’t really count, does it?) and coveter of the MacBook Air.  I think I can hear my wallet screaming somewhere.

More geek stuff

by Leave a Comment

I’m in geek heaven this weekend for sure. Saturday my computer memory that delivered. I already had 1GB but when I get so many things running, and I do get so many things running, it really slows down.  So I ordered 2 more GBs.  I’ve been so busy this weekend with all the cell phone drama that I haven’t even had a chance to shut the computer down to put it in .

In fact, I’m debating on whether to do that as soon as I post this.  I’m going to work tomorrow though so I won’t need it tomorrow and it’s already late tonight and with the time change, I need to go to bed!

iPhone – The first 24 hours

by Leave a Comment

Ahh…I’m in love. With an electronic device. I love my iPhone! I barely have let it alone all day. But wanna hear the funny part? I didn’t have my first phone call on it until about 1pm today. I had no idea how to answer it and ended up having to call Heather back.

So what am I doing on this thing then? Txt, txt, txting, surfing the web while I’m away from home and checking my email, checking the weather when I get ready for the day. I LOVE it. It’s so awesome to have the REAL Internet ALL the time.

The only thing I’m having trouble with is the keypad…sort of important right?  Yeah, well, I’m getting faster but those little letters are a little small for my taste and it’s going to take some time to get used to.

I also don’t like that it doesn’t have a video camera.

But everything else I LOVE.  The txt history, the maps, the customized weather, the calculator, the email, the browser, the music…ahhh, I’m in geek heaven!

I know the price is steep, but as far as I’m concerned, I just purchased another computer.  Cell phone?  Oh yeah, it has that too.

Thanks to Jon and Sarah on helping me meet my new crush.

Emma’s phone number

by Leave a Comment

After Emma’s registration last week, I decided to teach her our phone number.  She had learned the first three numbers in school.  All I had to do was write down the whole thing and then teach her the rest. Our last four digits are 0437.  I told her to remember that 0 came first and then 4 and 3 add up to 7.  That’s how I would remember it and we really do learn the same.  She’s known it ever since.  I ask her every day what it is.

Well, the other night, I had her recite it (555-0437) to Mom and Dad and this is what she says…

“Five. Five. Five. Line. Zero. Four. Three. Seven.”

Sunday Scripture

by Leave a Comment

Matthew 7:24-28 24“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

OK, I have to give God lots of glory tonight.  For long-time readers you may remember a girl that started our youth group about the same time I did and she had “issues”.  She came from a bad home life, she herself had gotten into drugs and alcohol and she believed that she was gay.  It’s been almost two years since I first met her and since then, she has admitted she had a crush on me when she first met me, come to my bible study high on cold medicine, come to my Sunday School class with a hangover and thrown up in the trash can, talked and texted with me endlessly, attended counseling sessions for anger management…gosh where do I stop?  Let’s just say it’s been a long two years with her.  But let me not forget the good stuff about her…even during this stuff.  The girl is smart as a whip.  She’s always the one wanting to read and ask questions.  She’s one of the nicest people I’ve ever met.  She will do anything anyone asks her to do.  She’s respectful and mature and funny and well, she’s just great to be around.

The reason I’m saying all this is we had youth Sunday today and she gave her testimony.  She talked about her family issues and growing up with just her dad and brother and how they hurt her and how all that led to her dressing like a boy and hating boys and acting like a boy and just getting confused about who and what she was.  How she got messed up with drugs and alcohol with several different family members but then talked about how one day she came to our youth group and kept coming just to get away.  How she had gone to church her whole life and she knew she was doing wrong and finally after over a year of attending our youth group, she finally realized how hypocritical it was to go to church week after week and then go home and do what she was doing.  She decided to make a permanent change.  Her testimony this morning basically ended there but I’ll continue for her….Her aunt and uncle decided to take her in last fall and her “inside” had finally changed at that point but she was still dressing like a boy and they bought her an entire new wardrobe and took her for manicures and pedicures and got her ears pierced and she bought a purse and suddenly her outside matched the beautiful young lady she had become on the inside.

As I listened to her stand up in front of hundreds of adults and tell this story and give God the glory for changing who she was, I couldn’t help but run up there with her.  I about had Pentecostal church at the Baptist church this morning.  I shook and I cried and I hugged her and told my church how proud I was of her.  I told them how she was an outcast in our group because the boys didn’t like a girl that looked and acted like a boy (she literally was mistaken for a boy) and the girls felt uncomfortable around her but our youth leader was wise enough to tell her to keep coming and God got ahold of her and she is a completely different person inside and out .

The key to her story is she decided to stop doing what she was doing and live according to God’s plan. She chose to make Jesus Christ her foundation and now everyone knows how different she is.  She’ll tell you, her family will tell you, the youth members will tell you, I will tell you.  She is a different person.  And God did it all.

And you know what?  I am SO glad God chose me to be involved in that.  This morning God got the glory for what He’d done in her life and I just want to use this as another vehicle to say that God is real, He’s alive, He can change your life if you just let Him.  It’s an awesome thing.